Camillus, NY Estate Planning Law Firms & Lawyers

The Will should be redone with the name of the conservator changed and it should be signed in the presence of two witnesses who also sign the new will in the presence of you and the other witness. The execution of the new Will should be done in the same manner as the old, revoked, Will. After the new Will is fully executed the old Will should be destroyed. That is the best practice. It is possible, but more perilous, to change the existing Will by modifying it on its face. If this is done the modification must be done in the presence of two witnesses, you must sign the Will indicating you made the modification in the presence of the witnesses and the witnesses must indicate that they witnessed you make the modification, and signed the will in their presence and they signed the Will in your presence and the presence of the other witnesses. If the modification is not done properly it is ineffective and it could be interpreted to mean the entire Will was revoked. It is much better to merely retype the Will with the one change and arrange to sign the Will in the presence of witnesses and revoke the prior Will.

A will reading is from the movies. It is not required, and frankly, rarely done. If you think your brother did something improper, you have to be the first to get to court, and fast. Call a lawyer to determine your rights.

The safest way to accomplish this is to simply rewrite the Will, naming the new guardian, and revoke all previous Wills. Make sure to have the new Will executed properly and witnessed by disinterested witnesses.